


Dandelion

by lightshinesthru



Series: Tomorrow Is a Long Time [1]
Category: Fantastic Four (Movies 2005-2007), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Am I the first person to pair these two?, Breaking Up Like An Asshole, Darcy is the fandom bicycle and I love it, Darcyland, F/M, Has no one paired Johnny and Emma before?, He's in for a world of hurt, Hurt Darcy Lewis, I would not want to be Johnny Storm, Johnny Storm Being a douche canoe, LOOOOOOTTTTTSSS of profanity, M/M, Murder Face Bucky, Murder Face Jane, Protective Avengers, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Jane Foster, Protective Steve Rogers, Seriously Do NOT mess with his people, more tags to come
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-07
Updated: 2017-01-10
Packaged: 2018-09-15 08:37:26
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9226976
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lightshinesthru/pseuds/lightshinesthru
Summary: The first of 5 plus 1, but not the first chronologically.Darcy learns the hard way that Johnny Storm can be a flaming ass cannon.





	1. I'm Throwing You A Fire In The Sky

The day was turning into a perfect storm of suckage. She woke up late, and granted her commute was within 10 floors, but it started off the day on a sour note. And okay, technically she didn’t have to even be to work today but when you get paid in buckets of Benjamins and live in the same building as your job you should probably check in with your boss/bestie. Then there was the fact that Johnny _still_ hadn’t responded to her text about their weekend trip, so that was causing a minor freak out. Because they were supposed to leave today.

 

Darcy felt pretty solid about her thing with Johnny. He was actually sweet most of the time and more attentive than three-quarters of the men she dated. The man was a hellcat in the sack, which given his history with women was to be expected. He was just as into giving as receiving which was a bit surprising to her at first. And not at all unwelcome. Darcy tried to maintain her calm on the situation because she definitely didn’t want seem clingy or annoying. Huge turn-off she was sure.

 

After rushing through her morning routine she took Tony's special elevator to the labs. She loved taking the elevator because frustrated the billionaire to no end. He still couldn't understand how she was able to bypass security for JARVIS and Friday.

 

When she got to the labs she could have cried. Naturally Jane decided to ignore her sleepy time and Scienced! All. Night. Long. Somehow she managed to rope Tony into a bender with her. Not that it was unusual for Tony to work until he literally passed out, but he had been about to leave last night. Now she had two punchy scientists which meant an explosion was just about guaranteed. The only reasonable member of Team Science! (How was a man that turned into a rage monster when stressed the reasonable one?!?) was passed out at his desk with a long since cold mug of tea.

 

“Darcy! We don’t have time for this. We’re on the verge of a major breakthrough with the Einstein-Rosen bridge.” Jane was looking ragged. Her hair slightly greasy and escaping her ponytail. There were smudges beneath her eyes and her skin was pale. Jane’s clothing bore several stains from food and a tear, most likely from the equipment she refused to replace.

 

“Chesty, what’s shakin'? Did you forget something? I thought you just left.” Tony looked slightly less disheveled. His hair had long since escaped its styling. She could see that he had run his hand through it countless times as it continually feel in his face. She’d caught him wearing cloth headbands before which Darcy found completely adorable. Tony’s manscaping was suffering from his lack of sleep. Stubble mixed in with the artful goatee.

 

Darcy tried not to bang her head on the lab desk. Was it really so hard to go to sleep? Darcy could do overnights with the best of them, but she didn’t handle dangerous equipment when she had only had 4 hours sleep in a 48 hour period. Because that was just common fucking sense. If there was one thing she had learned in her years of genius wrangling it was that genius left no room for common sense. Darcy figured that if most of the evil scientists had a wrangler earlier in their career who made sure they were regularly fed and watered there would be waaay less villains traipsing around. 

 

“I swear to Thor." She tried to curb her frustration. "I did leave Tony. It’s been like 10 hours!”

 

Tony looked surprised for a moment then shrugged. “Science waits for no man.”

 

A throat clearing next to him and an arched brow from a tiny mad scientist had him backpeddling quickly. “Or woman. Obviously Foster.”

 

Tony and Jane quickly went back to ignoring her. Darcy clearly interrupted an argument between the two over one of the machines. This was one of the many reasons why she insisted on sleep for the scientists. Clearly she was not doing enough to ensure they were rested, watered, and fed. There were take-out boxes and coffee mugs littering the surfaces of the lab. Seriously, the damn lab was cleaned and spotless when she left last night. Darcy had never met two people before who generated as much mess as Tony and Jane. Her BFF was seriously one of the messiest people ever.

 

Sometimes Darcy wished she was wrong, being right all the time is such a burden. But as she was cleaning there was the telltale odor of an electrical fire. Grabbing an extinguisher she ran over to the two oblivious science nerds and pushed Jane behind a desk. Tony had better reflexes and ducked when Darcy shoved Jane down. She managed to get some of the fire out but apparently there was more inside the whozamawhatsitdoodle that she and Jane patched together with duct tape and prayers. Clearly the prayers needed some improvement.

 

The blast threw her back into one of the concrete and steel beams of the lab. Darcy thought she probably lost some time and there was a high pitched tone in her ears. She saw Jane waving a hand in front of her looking worried but uninjured. Score one for the lab monkey. When she told Jane she was fine her friend slash boss’s face became even more distraught. Jane’s lips were moving but there was too much ringing and Darcy was a smidge disoriented. Sweet cheese and crackers she better not have a fucking concussion…another one. Stupid science nerds and their all hours sciencing. Friday was going to get some serious re-education about late night working.

 

Darcy tried to stand but fell back to the ground a wave of dizziness and nausea hitting her. Tony owed her so fucking big for this fiasco. Like a week in the Ibiza or the Maldives with all expenses paid and a SUPER SUPER hot cabana boy. As in Captain America level hot.

 

Suddenly Steve _I only believe in wearing shirts 3 sizes too small to showcase my Pecs of Liberty™_ was in front of her. There was a pink tinge to his cheeks and his ears were flaming red. Fuck her sideways with mew mew. Please let her not have said any of that out loud. Tony’s smirk and Jane’s attempt at holding back laughter told Darcy that in fact her inner verbal diarrhea just spilled out. Steve was valiantly trying to check her head for lumps and hell yeah that hurt like a mother. He held up some fingers and did not seem satisfied with the answer. Based on the wince Darcy guessed that not only was she saying everything in her head out loud but it was also at a painful volume. Perfect. Just fucking fantastic.


	2. I Could Have Been Your Marilyn Monroe, But You Had Only Eyes For The Mona Lisa

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Bucky! Johnny is mean, but it was in the tags. For the record, I actually kind of like the Johnny/Darcy pairing, but he just sort of ended being a butthead in this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So a few things:
> 
> 1\. Thank you so much to everyone reading and commenting! I hope you like where this is going. Because legit we are just getting started with this 'verse.  
> 2\. Seriously, I really want to improve my writing so if you see areas to improve please let me know.  
> 3\. I would LOVE some suggestions on possible pairings. I have my final pairing and another pairing that I'm pretty much set on, but other than that throw some out there.  
> 4\. I totally live for comments. So if you have a moment please feel free to leave one.  
> 5\. I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter, but I posted it anyway.

So Darcy got to visit medical, again. Steve actually carried her there. Captain America smelled like purple mountain’s majesty and amber waves of grain. His shoulders shook slightly and he looked like he was biting his lip. Fuck. She was still talking out loud. She was also a little sleepy and laid her head against Steve’s shoulder because why not.

 

A nurse shook Darcy awake and started all kinds of tests. Steve, gentleman and all around swell fella stuck around to make sure she was safe. The ringing slowly subsided but she still felt off balance. Because of course Darcy had ruptured an ear drum. Not only that but she had various bruises and lacerations. Steve, bless his sweet little apple pie heart, looked really worried. That’s okay, Darcy got free medical care and could totally get hazard pay and a free vacation out of this. Darcy joked with people about guilting Tony into things but she never really followed through. He was like a million times more sensitive than he let on and needed a couple travel cases for all the guilt he hauled. Hence Iron Man, not to mention the Ultron and Accords shit shows. Speaking of the Accords, where was Cap’s ever present chilly shadow? She could see him avoiding Tony’s lab because ya know, not awesome history there. But Darcy would have thought he would be following Steve once out of Tony’s space.

 

Once medical finished their examination Steve escorted Darcy back to her apartment. Apparently, it was a rest at home day with Friday watching her vitals. She liked Friday, really she did, but Darcy missed JARVIS. Viz was nice and all, a little spacy, but decent. But JARVIS had been a friend and she became attached to the snarky AI.

 

Steve followed Darcy into her apartment and sat her down on the couch. He went to the kitchen and brought her back a glass of water. She pouted wanting coffee instead. Steve chuckled probably guessing at her thoughts because Darcy’s caffeine addiction was a universally acknowledged truth by everyone in the tower. Steve placed the glass on the table managing to find a coaster. When did she get coasters?

 

Darcy’s hearing was coming back slowly, so bonus there. The medical staff had dosed her with the good stuff so she wasn’t in pain at the moment. Though she was likely to pass out or say some even more inappropriate stuff if she didn’t check herself.

 

Back when they first met Darcy thought maybe she and Steve had some chemistry. Then there were the Accords and he found Bucky. By the time they saw each other again, almost two years had passed the two super soldiers were firmly ‘together’. Darcy was many things, but a homewrecker was not one. Also, she totally knew her limits and she was not even in the same game let alone league as a super soldier/spysassin. Steve was always sweet to her and they became close friends. Bucky seemed a bit wary at first but they eventually became as close as she was with Steve. The three often had sleepovers, Darcy slept on the couch or their spare room. No funny business. Bucky seemed to see her as a little sister and once he was used to her became ridiculously affectionate. Because the Winter Fucking Soldier was a closet cuddler. Seriously, he was secretive as hell with it and barely touched _Steve_ outside of the apartment. Still, Bucky usually ended up with his head in her lap dozing during movies. Darcy always teased him about being a senior citizen when he fell asleep early. 

 

“So, uh, sorry about the…talking.” She grabbed the water just to have something to do with her hands. After a drink she realized that she was actually really thirsty. She downed the rest of the glass quickly. Apparently almost being exploded was dehydrating. Who knew?

 

“What? I mean why are you sorry?” Steve watched her with a sort of dazed expression. Did she have something on her face? Why was he staring?

 

“Probably it’s like a federal crime to objectify Captain America. Also kind of rude. I was…am a little out of it, but still sorry.” She tucked her legs on the couch and winced. Shit. Darcy figured she must have hurt her leg pretty badly to feel it even with the meds. Steve grabbed her favorite snuggly Avengers blanket and arranged it over her.

 

“I don’t mind you…I mean it’s not a crime.” She watched his cheeks and ears turn bright red again. He was so adorkable. Steve Rogers lacked any ability to hide his emotions. “Please don’t worry about that. I’m just glad you’re safe.”

 

“Where are Jane and Tony? They are so totally banned from the labs for at least 24 hours. And are required to have at least 8 hours of sleep.” Steve seemed startled by the conversational shift, but Darcy had zero chill when it came to a blushing Steve. And had already pushed way past the friend appropriate mark for one day.

 

“Thor picked up Jane and Rhodey came for Tony. I’m sure Thor will make sure she gets some rest. You know how protective he is with the Doc. And Rhodey would actually knock Tony out to get him to sleep, so he should be fine. Though they were both so worried they’ll probably sleep just to make it up to you.” Steve just shrugged and refilled the glass with water and ice this time.

 

“Those two never go to sleep without prompting.” Darcy looked at Steve suspiciously. He must have done something to get them to agree. Because Steve Butter Wouldn’t Melt In My Mouth Rogers was a shit stirring troll.

 

“Well I did talk to them, sternly, about the dangers to other team members if they didn’t get enough sleep. And I may have given them the entire list of your injuries and spelled out how much worse it might have been.” Steve did actually have the look of righteous anger that made Captain America so effective. Say what you want about the man, Steve had a will of vibranium or adamantium, and his disappointment was not something anyone wanted to earn. Every time you made Captain America disappointed a baby bald eagle died. Darcy had seen Pepper Potts herself fidget when that gaze was turned on her. Pepper Potts did _not_ fidget.

 

“I wish Pepper was around more. She is like the only one that Tony listens to about sleeping and eating.” She also just missed the woman who was her boss’s boss and had become a friend. Pepper spent most of her time in California since she and Tony split. Darcy hated that Pepper and Tony weren’t together but she respected the woman for taking care of herself. She totally understood the strain of having a superhero boyfriend and always worrying about his safety. Not to mention the way complicated history between the two.

 

“I know that isn’t true. Tony is terrified of you when you’re on the war path.” Steve looked at her fondly. Like the idea of her angry was about as terrifying as a herd of fluffy puppies in a cuddle pile.

 

“You sure know how to flatter a girl Cap.” Darcy arched a brow frowning at the man.

 

“I didn’t mean that in a… you’re teasing me aren’t you?”

 

“I figure someone has to and I’ve decided it’s my burden to bear.”

 

“I didn’t think you were even due in the lab today. Don’t you have a weekend trip planned with Storm?”

 

It was a weird non-sequitur. Steve’s lip curled up in dislike at the mention of Johnny. The only person who liked Johnny less than Steve was Bucky. He looked at Steve like he had murdered his puppy the first time he saw Johnny. Steve quickly explained that Tony did a DNA test on the two of them years before and confirmed that they weren’t related. But everyone was weirded out by the similarity, especially Bucky. He usually left the room if Johnny visited.

 

“I haven’t heard from him so I went to check on Team Science! before I started to pack.”

 

There was a soft ping from her phone, which was blessedly still intact. Score one for Tony on the shatterproof screen and casing. Darcy read the message several times her vision blurring. She couldn’t stifle the soft sob that escaped. Her heart started hammering and a cold sweat broke out. Darcy felt the bile rise when she looked at her notifications.

 

There were several alerts from Twitter with pictures of Johnny with a familiar and obscenely gorgeous blond. A blond that she recognized immediately because she had introduced the two of them. Because Darcy was a moron. The two were on a boat somewhere tropical and Johnny had clearly taken a selfie and posted the picture to his feed. The text message was a hack job ‘Dear John’ letter to Darcy apparently from Johnny. A man that she had been dating for several months and considered moving in with.

 

Darcy felt a warm hand on her wrist and looked up startled. She forgot that Steve was in the room and noticed the Bucky was standing behind him looking murdery. He looked way closer to the Winter Soldier than she had seen for months. The distraction of noticing Bucky only lasted a moment before she was swamped again with shock. Darcy couldn’t decide if it was worse that he ended their relationship by text or out of the blue while he jetted off with a mutual acquaintance.  

 

“Darce, sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

 

“I…” She choked up and couldn’t say a word. Steve gently took her phone and handed it to Bucky while pulling her in for hug. She tried not to cry, really she did. Because Darcy Lewis was many things, but a delicate and pretty crier was not one. This was clearly a day that she should have just stayed in bed and slept through. There was a growl and a crunching noise.

 

“That flaming assclown is dead.” Bucky did not take well to his people being upset.  At some point, between Netflix binge watching and late night cuddling, Darcy became one of those people.

 

“Buck, not now.”

 

“No, not now. But soon, he’ll see it coming and he’ll know why.”

 

Darcy tried not to let her face leak all over Steve but she also couldn’t bring herself to care too much. She was with two of the people she trusted most in the world. Bucky nudged her and she looked up. He handed her a handkerchief, like a legit one that men used to carry. She blinked up at him through tears. He took the linen and gently lifted her glasses and cleaned her face. He moved her glasses back into place and tucked the linen square away.

 

“Bucky, you can’t do anything to him. Things are still getting back on track after that shithead Ross and the Accords. Promise me you won’t do anything.” Darcy loved the protective streak, but this was important. The Winter Soldier and The Avengers were safe for the moment, but after the Accords no one took for granted that it would last.

 

“No can do sweetheart. Man needs a lesson and you’re too sweet to give it to him, so let me. Actually, Thor and I can teach him a lesson. We'll do less than Nat.”

 

“Leave it, please. I should have known when I started going out with him that it wouldn’t last. He just seemed so sincere and was still interested after years of me rejecting him. I guess I got caught up in everything. We’re so different, I think I embarrassed him. I mean I talk too much and I’m too loud and swear a lot. He’s rich and the woman he’s with is like class personified. I’m just a lab monkey for Janie.”

 

Steve’s arms tightened around her and Bucky’s murder stare came out. Like full on Winter Soldier, mission accepted murder stare.

 

“Did he _say_ that?” Bucky’s voice was flat and cold. Even Steve looked like he could happily dole out some hurt.

 

“Not…exactly.” Shut up Lewis. Seriously, are you trying to make the Fantastic 4 have to re-brand like everything.

 

“Who’s the woman? She looks kind of familiar.” Steve shook himself and seemed like he was trying to avoid bloodshed. For the moment.

 

“Emma Frost. She’s a teacher at Xavier’s school. So they have the whole being super thing in common.”

 

“She’s got nothing on you Darce. If Storm is this stupid then he doesn’t deserve you. We’d never treat you like that, if you were our girl.” Bucky was the sweetest sweet talker. He was everything smooth and sincere while Steve was everything awkward and sweet. Darcy knew she was pretty, but Emma Fucking Frost was  _gorgeous._ Like movie stars wished they looked as good as her. 

 

“You guys are the best. My favorite Avengers.”

 

“More than Thor?” Bucky loved teasing her about her adopted brother. Before she met Steve and Bucky, her favorite onsie was Thor inspired because people were stupid and never make Black Widow gear. Or if they did it was totally sexualized. So rude.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“More than Nat?”

 

“You have a death wish Sarge? Maybe about the same as Nat.” I acknowledged with a jaw cracking yawn. Not sure if the jaw cracking was related to the explosion. Double damn.

 

“If it means we get top billing it might be worthwhile.” Bucky grinned and gently chucked her under the chin. Dork.

 

“They make you Brooklyn boys big, handsome, and dumb I guess.”

 

“I can live with equal billing, for now.” Bucky and Steve shared a look. Darcy was done with boy shit for the day. She was not going to read into looks or try to make something out of nothing.

 

Darcy was beyond exhausted, she was completely drained. Today was her terrible awful no good very bad day and it needed to be over. She fell asleep nestled against Steve’s Pecs of Liberty with her legs over Mother Russia’s (second) finest. Her boys were petting her and talking softly when she dozed off.


	3. You Were Looking For An Orchid, And I Will Always Be A Dandelion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This chapter wraps up most of the Johnny/Darcy story. There might be an epilogue. I would like for it to be nicer about Johnny and give some insight to him. But the drafts do not make him seem nice. So I'm holding off for now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BIG Thank You! to everyone reading, following, commenting, and kudos-ing?

Darcy woke up in her bed with a glass of water and two pills on her nightstand. There was a note folded and propped against the lamp. Steve apologized for leaving but said there was a call to assemble. Shit. She hoped they were okay.

 

She drank the water and took the pills, silently blessing the wonder twins for the pills because her head and in fact whole body throbbed painfully. Darcy shuffled through her morning routine her entire body aching from the explosion and the shit show crying jag. Movies lied. Like all the time. But especially about being in an explosion. She had burns from the heat, her hair was singed in several places, she had cuts from flying pieces of hot glass and metal, bruises scattered across her body, and she still had a slight ringing in her ears. There was a large knot on the back of her head which made washing her hair especially fun. She used a couple of mirrors to look at the bruising on her back and it was a dark purple which explained the difficulty in lifting her arms. Science was a cruel mistress. After the shower she felt marginally better but still not quite herself. Darcy made her way to the common room several floors up and saw Jane watching the news.

 

“Darcy!” Janie looked properly horrified and her injuries. People thought the danger of living in Stark…well Avengers Tower was the bad guys, but honestly most of the issues started internally. Jane looked close to tears so Darcy sat gingerly next to the petite scientist who liked she wanted pull her into one of her rib cracking hugs, but knew her body couldn’t handle it. The heart was willing but the flesh was weak. She patted her boss on the shoulder.

 

“I’ll be alright, but Janie. This is why we have to stop sciencing sometimes.”

 

“I’ll listen to you from now on. I promise. I’ll eat and sleep and everything.”

 

“You won’t you big nerd. Your mistress science will call and then you’ll forget. But that’s why I’m here.”

 

“Wait. Why are you here? Didn’t you have that thing, with Storm? Like a weekend somewhere? Doesn’t he usually come over and pamper you for like a week when there’s an accident?”

Fuck. Trust Jane to notice the one time she wanted her to be oblivious or forgetful. “Oh, yeah no. We’re not…like together anymore.”

 

“Since when? Did I miss a thing?”

 

“No. It was a thing yesterday.”

 

“Did he come by and talk to you?”

 

“Not…exactly.”

 

Jane’s murder face was like scarier than Bucky’s and only slightly less scary than Nat’s. Johnny was in so much trouble. And she should probably feel bad that he was going to have some powerful and pissed off people gunning for him but she also got the warm fuzzies when Jane went all evil and protective.

 

“Explain.”

 

This was what made Jane a galaxy class scientist. Once she had a question she was relentless and tenacious in her pursuit of the story. Normally, Darcy might try to distract her more or be more evasive. It worked on occasion, but she was too tired and in too much pain to be more oblique.

 

“So apparently he left me for Emma and I got a ‘Dear John’ text.”

 

Oh yeah, Johnny was in so much trouble. Jane whipped out her phone and sent off a rapid text. Oh fudge monkey.

 

“Who are you texting?”

 

“Everyone.”

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“You heard me.”

 

“Yeah, like the words, but when you say _everyone…”_

 

“I mean everyone. The call to assemble was an all hands on deck situation. Even the Fantastic 4 and the X-Men got in on this one. I think they even called Lang and Parker.”

 

“Shitballs. Janie, I need you to tell me that everyone does not know my ass was dumped by Johnny Fucking Storm for Emma Literally Perfect Frost. Please Janie. Tell me this.”

 

There rapid dings to Jane’s phone and Darcy whimpered.

 

“Wade will hand deliver his balls to you. Which is pretty gross. So I told him no. Is Storm right or left handed?”

 

“Right?”

 

Jane continued her rapid fire texts. People always thought Darcy was the tech savvy one, and she was in many respects, but no one beat Jane on texts per minute. She could out text Darcy on an Nokia with one hand. No joke. And not even short hand, but with punctuation and everything. They actually had a competition one day.

 

“Okay, so instead he offered his hand so that he can never pleasure himself again. Wade offered some other options for things he could to with Storm’s hand. But you don’t need to know that.”

 

“Please tell me this is some kind of fever dream. Can you actually die from embarrassment?”

 

“No, you can’t. I would know.”

 

“Janie, Garth to my Wayne, Ted to my Bill, please stop. I just want to get drunk and possibly have unhealthy break up sex.”

 

“I did have an offer for a conference and guest lecture series in London. We had fun in London.”

 

“Janie, my sweet summer child, you almost died and we barely survived a bad Tolkein fanfic.”

 

“Yeah, but besides that it was fun. London was great and the accents were the best.”

 

“Don’t let Thor hear you say that.”

 

“Whatever. Do you want me to say yes? I wasn’t planning on it, but maybe for just a little while I’ll leave the sciencing. I’ll go around and rub people’s noses in our awesomeness.”

 

“Yeah, okay tiny boss bitch. Let’s do that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I believe I have the next pairing figured out. It's not really one I've seen before, so I'm not sure how it will be received.

**Author's Note:**

> This woman is one of my absolute favorite artists. [This](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKnTpRvdQJI)is a link to a live performance of the song that I named the fic after.


End file.
